Humfree
Pack Dog
So there we where in the Tankwa on our trusty 3 wheeled steeds and our backup bakkie and trailer following some way behind. We had spent a very enjoyable evening at Middelpos and sampled some of the best lamb on the trip and had a great ride so far that morning when we hit the T junction with the R355, which is the longest road, without a town or filling station in South Africa and is 648km long, but off course this is not why the road is so well known. Obviously that honour goes to Hein's Tankwa Padstal. We had never been there but I had read about it on the forum and also about it burning down being re built etc.
What we did not realize straight away is that Africa Burn was just up the road and 10 000 burners where making their way there. Thankfully we only had around 25km to do on the R 355 that day as we would be turning off to the Skuttery Pas. MAN this was a terrible time to ride a great road with the wind blowing the oncoming traffics white powdery dust straight into our faces...
Well we received a truly welcoming smile from Hein when we made it to the padstal and he enquired as to where we where headed - we explained that we where on the way to Wuppertal via the Eselbank pass and out of there via the Biedow valley following the old post route, he checked with us that we had the correct route. He even gave us an extremely detailed map - maps are preferred by my better half - I enjoy GPS, but the point is in todays times no one gives you anything.
The next day we came out of the Biedow valley and did about 100km down the R355, with still more burners coming from the front in all manner of vehicles loaded to differing capacity's and all making a lot of dust and the wind was still blowing the wrong way for us, until we made the Padstal again - Hein this time showed us a different route from the padstal that took us off the R355 and away from the burners dust - Hein thank you very much for your hospitable manor and sharing your local knowledge with us "out of towners" - (although there isn't one)
PS: My daughter is a teenager of 15 years young and she likes dreadlocks, so we asked Hein if he would pose for a picture so that we could show it to our daughter - In typical Hein style he did not only pose for the picture but also shared some history of dreadlocks. He informed us that every dred has a story connected to it and also gave us 2 beads to give to our daughter to start her first one... WOW...
If you are ever in the area you have to pop in at the Tankwa Padstal and say hi...
What we did not realize straight away is that Africa Burn was just up the road and 10 000 burners where making their way there. Thankfully we only had around 25km to do on the R 355 that day as we would be turning off to the Skuttery Pas. MAN this was a terrible time to ride a great road with the wind blowing the oncoming traffics white powdery dust straight into our faces...
Well we received a truly welcoming smile from Hein when we made it to the padstal and he enquired as to where we where headed - we explained that we where on the way to Wuppertal via the Eselbank pass and out of there via the Biedow valley following the old post route, he checked with us that we had the correct route. He even gave us an extremely detailed map - maps are preferred by my better half - I enjoy GPS, but the point is in todays times no one gives you anything.
The next day we came out of the Biedow valley and did about 100km down the R355, with still more burners coming from the front in all manner of vehicles loaded to differing capacity's and all making a lot of dust and the wind was still blowing the wrong way for us, until we made the Padstal again - Hein this time showed us a different route from the padstal that took us off the R355 and away from the burners dust - Hein thank you very much for your hospitable manor and sharing your local knowledge with us "out of towners" - (although there isn't one)
PS: My daughter is a teenager of 15 years young and she likes dreadlocks, so we asked Hein if he would pose for a picture so that we could show it to our daughter - In typical Hein style he did not only pose for the picture but also shared some history of dreadlocks. He informed us that every dred has a story connected to it and also gave us 2 beads to give to our daughter to start her first one... WOW...
If you are ever in the area you have to pop in at the Tankwa Padstal and say hi...
